4. Secret Bucket #2
Gus kicked off again and smoothly sped down the concrete slope toward the flat run.
He leaned back on his right foot and, without overthinking it, jumped as high as he could into the air.
It was only about one actual inch in height, but when his board stayed glued to his feet and followed his small arch, and he landed back on the ground smoothly, a smile burst across his face.
He leveled out and continued speeding down the concrete. “I did it!” Gus beamed, looking back over at Bridger.
“Wait! Watch out!” Bridger dashed toward Gus, seeing the low rail coming into his path.
Gus gasped, swerved, and slammed directly into Bridger.
“Oh, fuck!” Bridger yelped as they both crashed to the ground. Gus’s board juddered away as he landed on top of Bridger on the concrete. Both boys grunted in pain.
“Bridger, I’m so sorry,” Gus lamented, shifting sideways. “Are you okay?”
Yet when Bridger rolled onto his back, Gus saw that he was laughing. Bridger took a deep, long breath, lying flat on the concrete. Gus joined him in turning over.
“Now we’re skating!” Bridger declared, placing his arms behind his head. He tilted his chin toward Gus to flash a proud smile. “Let’s try it again.”
Bridger wiped the grit off his scraped knees, popped up, and lent a hand to Gus.
Gus laughed. “Never fazed.” He accepted Bridger’s helpful reach. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“’Cause it’s fun.” Bridger pulled him up.
As Gus stood tall again, he put a foot back on his board. Ready to start another ollie, Gus noticed Bridger was still holding his hand. Bridger then placed his second hand on his shoulder. An electric chill dashed up Gus’s spine.
“You’ve got it. Try again,” Bridger encouraged, staring deep into Gus’s gaze. He smirked, raising an eyebrow. “Just don’t look back at me this time.” With a soft chuckle at Gus’s startled face, Bridger released his hand.
Gus rolled his eyes at Bridger’s mischievous laughter and pushed off to try the ollie again.
Soon other young neighborhood kids started to arrive at the park with their mini helmets and knee pads.
Even with them nearby, it took only a few successful ollies and fewer falls for Gus to gain confidence in the move though he was still barely catching air.
Bridger eventually asked Gus to connect tricks from previous practice days together, a feat he surprised himself by managing.
Gus was amazed at how much he had learned in only a week. Bridger must have noticed it, too.
“So why’d you wanna learn to skate so bad?” Bridger asked as they took a moment to pause, relax, and sit on the edge of the bowl.
Gus struggled to find a real reason. Truth was, he didn’t even understand why.
“I don’t know. There’s not much to do around here,” Gus decided to say. “Dad has me working all the time. I wanted to try something different.”
“Yeah. Skating really is the only shit worth doing in town,” Bridger agreed, taking a long, strained breath as he looked around. “I love Livingston, but even I get bored here.”
Gus squinted at Bridger. Even now, he couldn’t picture Bridger as someone who could ever be bored.
He studied Bridger’s face as the boy turned to watch all the other kids on the concrete slopes, catching the corners of his lips quirk up when the kids cackled after they fell down.
Gus wondered if Bridger hoped for something different too someday. He wanted to find out.
“Damn, I’m hungry.” Bridger whipped his head back toward Gus with a flashy grin. “You want a snack?”
Gus and Bridger skated to the collection of small stores that stood near the skatepark.
The excitement of this departure overwhelmed Gus.
It felt like he was skipping school for the first time.
They spontaneously strolled the Livingston sidewalks, peering into shop windows with their boards under their arms. They passed some quaint cafés and one coffee shop that Gus knew his mom would have loved.
But Bridger was craving some candy and beef jerky, so they stopped at a place called TJ’s Gas N Convenience.
Gus and Bridger entered the shop and perused the skinny aisles.
Bridger beelined it to the junk food and pulled out some jerky, a Twinkie, and an orange Fanta.
Gus passed the magazine rack and spotted an issue of Thrasher.
He slipped it free of the metal shelf and flipped through the pages of skateboarders, industry news, and advertisements.
While Bridger searched for the perfect bag of chips, Gus placed the magazine, a premade sandwich, a Coke, and some change on the shop counter.
He stepped outside to read some of the magazine, sipping his soda while he waited for Bridger.
“Hey! It’s Art Boy!” a voice called out.
Gus twisted toward it. The skater girl Gus talked to at the park a few days ago—Tara, if he remembered right—cocked her chin at him with a smile.
She walked up to Gus, her skateboard hugged to her side by the crook of her arm.
She was wearing a beanie, a baggy graphic tee, ripped jean shorts, and sneakers, looking much cooler than Gus would ever be.
In the distance behind Tara, her two other friends walked into a coffee shop.
“How’s skating coming along?” Tara inquired.
“Oh. Good,” Gus replied, leaning his head toward Bridger in the shop. “Bridger’s been teaching me.”
“Really? Bridger is?”
“Yeah.” Gus paused. “Why?”
“I never thought he’d do that,” Tara remarked, putting her hand on her hip. “He’s usually a dick like the rest of them.”
Gus shrugged. “He’s fine around me.”
Tara appraised Gus. She lifted an eyebrow in thought.
“Maybe because you’re nice,” she said.
“I’m… nice?” Gus responded, confused.
“Yeah.” Tara nodded. “Bridger’s not used to that.”
A calm pause stalled the conversation. Tara heard the cha-ching of the cash register and saw Bridger checking out. Her lips curled into a smile as she thought to herself for a moment before looking back to Gus.
“Catch ya later,” Tara remarked slyly as she gave Gus a weird, knowing look.
What’s that mean? Gus fretted as Tara rotated away to walk down the street and meet up with her friends at the coffee shop. Gus almost waved as she looked back at him but stopped himself. He didn’t know why; he wanted Tara to like him, she was so cool.
Just as Gus took a big bite of his sandwich, Bridger stepped out of the convenience store with a bag overflowing with snacks.
“Bro, check this out,” Bridger said, grabbing Gus’s arm firmly and yanking him to the side, sending some of the shredded lettuce from his sandwich scattering. Bridger pulled his shorts waistband down, revealing his underwear.
“What the—” Gus almost looked away from the indecent move, but then he saw the imprint of a bottle.
The bulge was clearly noticeable behind Bridger’s stretched cartoon briefs.
Gus gulped. Bridger had a happy trail of soft brown hair that led down from his abs and disappeared beneath his swollen underwear.
Woah… Gus thought. I don’t have that.
Bridger reached into his briefs, pulling the bottle halfway out to brandish it for Gus. It was a Rainer.
“You’re gonna get caught,” Gus warned, looking around.
Bridger let go of Gus’s arm and donned a devious grin. “Not if we ditch!” he exclaimed, and he immediately bolted down the street.
Gus gasped with worry and followed in a dash behind Bridger.
Both boys heaved with exertion until they had safely gotten a few blocks away from the main shops.
As they finally slowed, Bridger chuckled at his own shenanigans.
Gus laughed along, but his mind drifted elsewhere.
He couldn’t get the image of the beer bottle in Bridger’s underwear out of his head.
He looked down at Bridger’s hand swaying by his own.
He wished Bridger would grab his arm again.
The rush of adrenaline had Gus lightheaded.
Gus wondered how Bridger could so eagerly share naughty adventures with him. No other person had ever acted this way around him. Gus didn’t know why it felt so strange. All he knew was that he liked it.
“I’ll save the prize for after we practice some more tricks,” Bridger called back to Gus with a smirk as he skipped a few paces ahead, dropped his board, and hopped on. Within seconds, he was already far down the sidewalk heading back toward the skatepark.
Gus felt nervous for some reason. Is he always this wild? In any case, he couldn’t help but smile as he watched Bridger ollie off the curb into the street and speed down the road. Snapping out of his mind, Gus jumped on his own skateboard and hurried to catch up.